Using litigation to defend women prosecuted for abortion in Mexico: challenging state laws and the implications of recent court judgments.

While women in Mexico City can access free, safe and legal abortion during the first trimester, women in other Mexican states face many barriers. To complicate matters, between 2008 and 2009, 16 state constitutions were amended to protect life from conception. While these reforms do not annul existing legal abortion indications, they have created additional obstacles for women. Health providers increasingly report women who seek life-saving care for complications such as haemorrhage to the police, and some cases eventually end up in court. The Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE) has successfully litigated such cases in state courts, with positive outcomes. However, state courts have mainly focused on procedural issues. The Mexican Supreme Court ruling supporting Mexico City's law has had a positive effect, but a stronger stance is needed. This paper discusses the constitutional framework and jurisprudence regarding abortion in Mexico, and the recent Costa Rica decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. We assert that Mexican states must guarantee women's access to abortion on the legal grounds established in law. We continue to support litigation at the state level to oblige courts to exonerate women prosecuted for illegal abortion. Advocacy should, of course, also address the legislative and executive branches, while working simultaneously to set legal precedents on abortion.

Haematopoiesis radioprotection in Balb/c mice by an aqueous mycelium extract from the Basidiomycete Pleurotus ostreatus mushroom.

The study examined the radioprotective activity of an aqueous extract from Pleurotus ostreatus mycelium administered to Balb/c mice. Male mice were whole-body irradiated on day 0 ((60)Co, at 0.43 Gy/min) and divided into two groups. The extract was administered intraperitoneally to one group (100 mg/kg) on days - 10 to - 6 and - 2 to +1 with respect to the irradiation. The irradiated-control group was injected with saline solution; non-irradiated mice were used as negative controls. The radioprotective effect was evident by increases in bone marrow cellularity (5.1 × 10(6)/femur vs. 1.1 × 10(6)/femur in saline-control mice, p < 0.05), leucocyte counts (10.5 × 10(9)/L vs. 4.5 × 10(9)/L, p < 0.05), and spleen cellularity (11.2 × 10(7)/spleen vs. 6.2 × 10(7)/spleen, p < 0.05). The extract stimulated macrophage phagocytic activity as judged by a faster rate of carbon clearance in terms of absorbance ratios (1.62 vs. 2.01, p < 0.05). Therefore, this extract may be a candidate therapeutic agent with radioprotective activity for haematopoiesis damage, particularly to cells involved in immune function.

[Syncytial intramedullary meningioma associated with cervical syringomyelia]. / Meningioma sincitial intramedular asociado a siringomielia cervical.

TITLE: Meningioma sincitial intramedular asociado a siringomielia cervical.

[Syncytial intramedullary meningioma associated with cervical syringomyelia. Reply]. / Meningioma sincitial intramedular asociado a siringomielia cervical. Réplica.

TITLE: Meningioma sincitial intramedular asociado a siringomielia cervical. Réplica.

Synanthropy of Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae (Diptera) in Bogotá, Colombia.

Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae have medical and forensic importance. Species of these families are the first insects colonizing corpses and are, therefore, useful in establishing postmortem interval and as indicators in corpse transfer. The synanthropic index (SI) measures the relation of dipteran species with human settlements. Our main objective was to determine the synanthropic index of these families during the rainy and dry seasons in Bogotá. Captures were carried out using traps with baits (beef liver) in three zones (urban, rural, and forest areas). In the family Calliphoridae, the most abundant species were Calliphora vicina (Robineau-Desvoidy) with a sinanthropy index (SI) of +83.1, followed by Lucilia sericata (Meigen) (SI = +92.2) and Compsomyiops verena (Walker) (SI = +42.0). Calliphora nigribasis (Macquart) was not associated with human settlements, while Sarconesiopsis magellanica (Le Guillou) was present in the three zones and considered hemisynanthropic (SI = +19.0). Roraimomusca roraima (Townsend) was reported for the first time in Bogotá and was a non-synanthropic species (SI = -36.0). On the other hand, in Sarcophagidae, three species were collected: Ravinia rufipes (Twonsend), Ravinia colombiana (Lopes), and Boettcheria sp1, which were abundant in the rural and forest zones, the first having a dual characterization as synanthropic and hemisynanthropic, while the other two were hemisynanthropic. Our data showed differences in the association of Calliphoridae species with the three environments, whereas Sarcophagidae were distributed in locations with a lower human impact.